Matt Sisca would enjoy nothing more than to be playing hockey Friday night.

But to do that, the Niagara IceDogs must defeat the Belleville Bulls on their home ice tonight.

"We'd love to play another home game," Sisca said before hitting the ice for practice Wednesday. "All the support we got from the fans (Tuesday) -- we knew there was more than 3,100 there -- but we did it last time in Belleville and, hopefully, we can do it again."

The Bulls pushed the IceDogs to the brink of elimination with a convincing 5-2 victory Tuesday to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Ontario Hockey League Eastern Conference semifinal.

Should the IceDogs prevail tonight, Game 6 goes Friday at Jack Gatecliff Arena.

Sisca, who had a strong effort Tuesday with his fifth goal of the playoffs, knows the Bulls will be ramped up to end the series in front of their home fans.

"We know Belleville is going to come out really hard, but I think we'll come out a little harder," said Sisca, who had a strong sophomore season with 21 goals and 54 points. "We don't want it to be our last game. All the boys in the dressing room were talking how they don't want to go home.

"I think we'll come out a little harder. We'll play every shift like it's our last shift."

Coach Mario Cicchillo isn't going to sway from his game plan now and put extra pressure on his players, even with the season hanging in the balance.

"I'm not one of those guys to throw any negative stuff at them," Cicchillo said. "I always tried to think positive. If I think positive, then the players think positive.

"I'm not going to say anything like, 'It's our last 20 minutes, guys.' I don't want to put any negatives thoughts in their heads."

Cicchillo feels the chemistry on his team can be a huge positive factor at this time of the season.

"We've been a wheel all year," he said. "The spokes are the players and as long as the spokes are all tight, the wheel is OK and you can ride your bike straight. If you have a few loose spokes, it's going to wobble and you're not going to get too far.

"We're been tight all year. Our leadership group here is real good and the spokes are all tight on this wheel."

Chemistry or not, the IceDogs need to tighten up in their own end after an overabundance of giveaways Tuesday.

"We were playing with only one overager (Patrick Lee) and when you have that many young guys in the lineup, it's a learning procedure," Cicchillo said. "You're going to make mistakes, but I know our guys are going to learn from those mistakes and they're going to be better hockey players down the road."

Sisca had another explanation for all the defensive mishaps.

"Belleville is a great team and they came in first for a reason," said Sisca, an 18-year-old Woodbridge native.

"They're so great up front and they also have (Mike) Murphy back there.

"The giveaways, a lot of people were panicking because we were down early. We were tying to do our own things. We have one more game left maybe and we can't panic about that. We just have to take it one shift at a time."

Ice chips: After 11 playoff games, IceDogs goaltender Jeremy Smith has made 444 saves for a solid .915 save percentage.... Andrew Agozzino leads the IceDogs in scoring with six goals and 11 points in 11 post-season games. Alex Friesen is next with three goals and 10 points followed by Chris DeSousa at 3-6-9.... Eric Tangradi leads the Bulls with eight goals and 18 points in 10 postseason games. Luke Pither is next at 3-12-15 followed by Bryan Cameron at 6-4-10.